Recapturing the Virtues of Yesterday, To Build the Lord's Kingdom Today

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Penmanship: A Lost Art?

So many skills that were once done by hand and taken pride in are going away. A ‘lost art’ you might say. Penmanship is one of them. The ability to write elegantly and clearly was once a highly prized skill. It even used to be a part of every school child’s lessons! My grandfather remembers his desk at school being equipped with a holder for pen and ink! That was not too long ago!

George Washington’s signature

In our modern age where we sit and type out our thoughts into e-mails, tweets, blogs and such, the art of being able to write a nice letter, handwritten note or even a grocery list is disappearing. Typing is so much easier and faster, but in exchange we have lost the beautiful feel of pen and ink against paper and the ability to pause and really think about what we are writing.

Queen Victoria’s signature

May I encourage you, young maiden, to pay attention to your penmanship? It doesn’t have to be fancy and full of scrolls and curls, but a clearly printed and readable signature is so nice to come across! How about taking up calligraphy or just observing the different ways that people write? Perhaps finding a nice notebook and practicing penmanship in it with a good pen? Maybe we can start to bring back this ‘lost art’ in small ways in our own lives!

I love using paper and pen- and I consider it a delightful treat to get a real handwritten letter or card via “snail mail”! I think real letter-writing is also a lost art, slipping away from our society hand in hand with penmanship. It’s very sad. I love words, letters, and typography and recently started working on my own little lettering designs: http://heritageofgrace.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/for-the-love-of-typography/